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Aside from the long lines for Amtrak at Union Station, service was reportedly normal. An announcement was made that all trains to New York are sold out until 5 p.m.

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A line of more than 30 customers snaked through the aisles of Blockbuster Video in Upper Marlboro as residents tried to stock up on entertainment for what promises to be a long, snowed-in weekend.

While kids bundled in scarves and winter hats tugged at their parents' coats in front of shelves of animated features, Donna Robinson, 40, of Largo, browsed the action flicks.

"You're not gonna be able to get out of the house," she said, holding copies of "Fracture" and "Live Free or Die Hard."

"If I'm gonna get snowed in, at least [I'll] have a couple good movies. ... Otherwise I wouldn't be standing in this long line."

For her young one, she planned to bring home something lighter: Alvin and the Chipmunks.

-- Jonathan Mummolo

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Around 12:30 p.m. Friday, a crowd of 200 (as estimated by management and eyewitnessed by your correspondent) was waiting patiently for a promised delivery of snow shovels. Dozens of people sat on folding chairs while others formed queues. No time frame given for delivery. Meanwhile scores of customers snatched up the hundreds of bags of rock salt still miraculously available.

-- Richard Leiby

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Una Cooper, Bowie's communications director, said she has found a way to take advantage of being snowed in. She writes:

The holidays went by too quickly. If we can find a turkey, we're going to have a great big turkey dinner and invite nearby friends who can walk to join us for dinner tomorrow. We did it during the 1996 snow storm and everyone brought something. It was a blast and we still talk about it fondly.

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And Lindsey Truitt passes along notice of a canceled wedding -- with a bit of a happy ending.

So, weddings get canceled. My sister had already made and decorated a cake for a wedding Saturday at the Mandarin Oriental..... It has been called off so she
is delivering it to DC Central Kitchen (where she teaches a couple of times a
year) tomorrow so it can be enjoyed while still fresh by the homeless who come
out of the cold and snow and wind. This is a nearly $2,000 cake.........!

Kendall Barrett, who teaches pastry and cake decorating classes at DC Central Kitchen, said she loaded up the six-tier cake -- and a two-tier cake from a canceled 50th birthday party -- and dropped the creations off just as if she were making a regular delivery.

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About 4 p.m. at the Giant on Connecticut Avenue in Van Ness, a steady stream of customers continued to pick over thin shelves as the snow began to fall heavily.

But at the self-service check out lane, the wait-time was less than 5 minutes.

"Will you look at this, no line," clerk Thelma Pannell told a customer.

When asked when was the last time so few people were in line, Pannell said with a grin: "Last Saturday evening."

All these idiots buying toilet paper, food and shovels are just fools. It will snow Friday and Saturday. The roads will be plowed on Saturday and Sunday. By Monday everything will be open and clean. These idiots are just fools, passengers, morons. Can't think, analyze or rationalize.

All these idiots buying toilet paper, food and shovels are just fools. It will snow Friday and Saturday. The roads will be plowed on Saturday and Sunday. By Monday or Tuesday at the latest everything will be open and clean. These idiots are just fools, passengers on the planet, morons. Can't think, analyze or rationalize.

All these idiots buying toilet paper, food and shovels are just fools. It will snow Friday and Saturday. The roads will be plowed on Saturday and Sunday. By Monday or Tuesday at the latest everything will be open and clean. These idiots are just fools, passengers on the planet, morons. Can't think, analyze or rationalize.

I live in an eastern suburb of Cleveland Ohio. By Lake Erie. People do the same stupid things up here. They run to the grocery stores like they are going to be snowbound for weeks. It makes me laugh. We go through this every winter and people still stock up. While I realize DC is not used to the kind of snow they will probably get, come on. Just use some common sense. And I hope there is a fun and safe snowball fight. Sounds like a good time. Hopefully you won't get some moron cop who should'nt be a cop if he is that touchy ruining it for you.